| AccuFund Software Review |
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| Written by Pam Baker, Contributing Editor | ||||||||
| Thursday, 30 August 2007 05:41 | ||||||||
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My comments don't mean that AccuFund is lacking in technology. It's database is managed by Sybase and incorporates transaction rollback, which protects the data from technological hiccups. It also provides realtime data updates like most modern accounting applications. In AccuFund's case this also means there are no "hard closes" to accounting periods. Users with the proper login credentials can have as many prior periods open as they need.
In Use
AccuFund is designed to allow for a huge variety of fund types within each organization. The account numbering structure is among the best I've seen. Account numbers can have as many as 255 characters, separated into up to 99 segments, and the application can be set to select on any combination of characters in the account number for combining and roll-up of categories. In addition, it's possible to establish categories that cut across account number segments in pretty much any way necessary for the purpose of creating specialized reports.
I also liked AccuFund's document management function. Though it has little to do with the actual accounting function as far as numbers are concerned, it's possible to link document files to accounts and transactions. That means you can scan receipts, invoices, or memos and store them on your server, and the links to those files show up in the accounting pages, and can be displayed by clicking on the links.
I mentioned that AccuFund's roots were in data integration with other accounting programs. These roots show up in the system's extensive abilities to produce and incorporate external files, particularly Microsoft Excel and Word. If you've ever struggled with multiple budget revisions by revising spreadsheets between several decision makers, you understand the difficulty in consolidating the results into the accounting system. AccuFund handles this task (almost) effortlessly. It's necessary to set up a template to describe the relationship of the spreadsheet to the system's data columns, but once that's been done, the process is nearly automatic.
Recap
There is much more to AccuFund's packages, which include a full range of applications that are fully integrated. I found it to have good capabilities for all the things that I've found to be headaches in most of the other packages I've seen. The user interface is clean and easy to understand. There is extensive security that allows users to have access to only the information they need to be involved with. And the system provides extensive reporting capabilities for both internal and external recipients.
Pricing is not advertised. AccuFund works with each customer to develop the appropriate set of functions and price structure.
Advantages
Flexible account numbering structure
Extensive reporting functions
Large set of integrated functions
Consistent user interface
Disadvantages
Remote access requires Citrix (or other service)
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About the Author: Kurt Martin is a Founder and Group Publisher of Progressive Media Group (PMG) and the Publisher of Nonprofit Technology News. During his 4 years as Publisher of The NonProfit Times, he grew the imprint from a single newspaper to a community of websites, online job boards, email newsletters and digital editions of the print editions. Prior to taking the role of Publisher he was the East Coast Sales Manager for Broad Daylight, Inc. a knowledgebase company. He also held management roles in advertising and ciruclation sales at American Banker/Bond Buyer (Thomson), Faulkner & Grey (Thomson) and SourceMedia (Investcorp.) Kurt graduated from Montclair State University with a B.A. in Political Science and Public Administration. |
